Daniel Maguire-A Papacy's 25 Years of Unfulfilled Potential

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A Papacy's 25 Years of Unfulfilled Potential
We shouldn't celebrate John Paul II's demeaning view of women and obsession with 'pelvic orthodoxy.'

By Daniel C. Maguire
Daniel C. Maguire is a professor of moral theology at Marquette University.

October 17, 2003

When Karol Wojtyla assumed the papacy 25 years ago, my hopes were high. A vibrant, non-Italian pope who still went skiing and who wrote and acted in plays might be independent enough to break the mold and reshape the papacy in humbler and more helpful ways. This hope was shared by people in other religions who saw the advantage of a prominent religious leader who could give voice to the best moral hopes of humankind.

This promise was never fulfilled.

Instead, we saw a pope who squandered his moral authority on issues in which he has no privileged expertise. I did not expect to be writing now that this has been a failed and disappointing papacy.

About 40 years ago, Pope John XXIII threw open the windows of the Catholic Church by convening the liberating Second Vatican Council. But beginning in 1978, John Paul II slammed the door on the council's progressive changes and locked the Catholic Church out of dealing with the issues of a turbulent new age.

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